Operation Lotus strikes Aam Aadmi Party as 7 Rajya Sabha MPs defect to BJP; Raghav Chadha leads charge

New Delhi,, 24/4: ‘Operation Lotus’ struck the AAP on Friday with seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs defecting to the BJP, reducing the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to just three in the Upper House while throwing it into another crisis a year after its electoral debacle.

The MPs were Raghav Chadha, newly-appointed Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Ashok Mittal, AAP General Secretary (Organisation) Sandeep Pathak, Swati Maliwal, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta and Vikramjit Singh Sahney. Now, only Sanjay Singh, ND Gupta and Balbir Singh remain for AAP